Opal tapped the suggestion into a small electronic notepad on her pocket computer.
“Thanks for that. Now, tell me everything.”
I’ll resist for a minute, then feed her some misinformation, thought Mulch.
“I’ll tell you nothing, pixie she-devil,” he said, Adam’s apple knocking nervously against the gun barrel.
“Oooh,” said Opal, stamping with frustration. “Isn’t anyone afraid of me?”
She stripped off a glove and placed a thumb on Mulch’s temple. “Now, show me everything.”
And with a few remaining sparks of ill-gotten magic, she sucked every memory of the past few days from Mulch’s brain. It was an extremely unpleasant sensation, even for someone used to expelling large amount of material from his person. Mulch gibbered and bucked as the last few days were vacuumed from his head. When Opal had what she wanted, the dwarf was left unconscious in the mud.
He would wake up an hour later with the starter chip for an LEP shuttle in his pocket and no idea how he’d gotten there.
Opal closed her eyes and flicked through her new memories.
“Ah,” she said, smiling. “A time stream.”
“There isn’t time for this,” insisted Artemis. “I think there is,” argued ten-year-old Artemis. “You have broken into my house again; the least you can do is explain that time stream comment. Not to mention the fact that you are alive.”
Artemis the elder flicked his hair away from his face.
“You must recognize me now. Surely.”
“This is not a shampoo commercial. Please stop flicking your hair.”
Holly was bent almost double, her hand on her heart.
“Hurry,” she groaned, “or I’ll have to go without you.”
“Please,” Artemis pleaded.“We need to go. It’s a matter of life and death.”
Young Artemis was unmoved. “I had a feeling you would be back. This is where it all began, right on this spot. I reviewed the security tapes, and you simply appeared in this room. Then you followed me to Africa, so I thought if I saved the creature’s life you might end up back here with my lemur. We simply blocked our heat signatures and waited. And here you are.”
“That’s pretty flimsy reasoning,” said Artemis the elder. “We were obviously after the lemur. Once we had the lemur, why would we return here?”
“I realize the logic was flawed, but I had nothing to lose. And, as we can see, a lot to gain.”
Holly did not have the patience for a Fowl gloating session. “Artemis, I know you have a heart. You’re a good person even if you don’t know it yet. You sacrificed your diamonds to save my life. What will it take for you to let us go?”
Young Artemis considered this for an infuriating minute and a half.
“The truth,” he said eventually. “I need to know the absolute truth about all of this. What kind of creature are you? Why does he look so familiar? What makes the lemur so special? Everything.”
Artemis the elder clutched Jayjay to his chest. “Get me a pair of scissors,” he said.
Opal ran into the manor, casually squashing the magical nausea that flared upon entering a human dwelling without permission.
A time stream, she thought, almost giggling with excitement. Finally I can test my theories.
The manipulation of time had long been Opal’s ultimate goal. To be able to control one’s passage through time was the greatest power. But her magic was not strong enough without the lemur. It took teams of LEP warlocks to slow time down for a few hours; the magic required to open a door to the tunnel was stupendous. It would be easier to shoot down the moon.
Opal tapped this into her notepad.
Reminder. Shoot down the moon? Viable?
But if she could gain entrance to the tunnel, Opal felt sure that she would quickly master the science involved.
It’s more than likely an intuitive organism; and after all, I am a genius.
She scaled the stairs, mindless of the scuff marks the high human steps inflicted on her new boots. Mervall and Descant trailed behind, surprised at this lack of footwear prudence.
“I got thrown into the pigpen for boots,” muttered Descant. “Now she’s scratching those ones on the stairs. Typical Koboi inconsistency. I think I’m getting an ulcer.”
Opal reached the upper landing and raced immediately through an open doorway.
“How does she know that’s the right room?” wondered Descant.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mervall, resting his hands on his knees. Scaling human steps is not easy for pixies. Big heads, short legs, tiny lungs. “Maybe it’s the magical red glow coming from the doorway, or perhaps it’s the deafening howl of the temporal winds.”
Descant nodded. “You could be right, brother. And don’t think I don’t know sarcasm when I hear it.”
Opal traipsed from the room, her expression sour.
“They have gone,” she announced. “And the tunnel is about to close. Also my boots are ruined. So, boys, I am looking for someone to blame.”
The Brill brothers took one look at each other, then turned and ran as fast as their tiny legs would carry them.
Not fast enough.
CHAPTER 14